With the NHL Stanley Cup playoff in full swing, I thought I would highlight a rug from our Museum of Vancouver collection, called the “Riot Rug”. But first, a little bit of background to how this rug came to be.
Back in June of 2011, the Vancouver Canucks were in the Stanley Cup finals against the Boston Bruins. The final series went to 7 games, with the final game being played here in Vancouver on June 15th. Unfortunately, as most people know, the Canucks lost game 7 to the Bruins. More unfortunate is that some people took that loss as an opportunity to cause damage in the downtown area of Vancouver. The situation escalated quickly, and it became a full-blown riot.
During the Stanley Cup riot, many businesses were vandalized and looted, and many windows were broken. A lot of these broken windows were boarded up with plywood as quick as possible to prevent further looting. The next day, as citizens started to clean up after the riots, people started to write positive messages on the plywood boards, condemning the violence that took place and illustrating their love for this city.
The Museum of Vancouver received 86 of those boards. Burritt Bros re-created one of those boards in the form of an area rug.
Here is an image of the Riot Rug on the loom during production:
I have shown this rug to countless clients in my time here at Burritt Bros to show what you can do with an area rug. An area rug can be made into a statement piece that has a special place for a client. Because this particular rug is so specific, I never really thought anyone would have the right spot for it.
However, as fate would have it, one of my designer clients and her client come into our showroom to look at a completely different rug. While I left them alone to look at that rug, they happened to notice the Riot Rug, which was hanging in a display rack next to them. That display rack just happened to be open to the Riot Rug, otherwise they likely would not have seen it since they had only come in for the rug I had displayed on the floor for them.
The designer and her client both really liked the Riot Rug, but they were not sure where it could go in the client’s home. They decided to take it home to try it, and I am happy to say they did find a place for the rug!
Thanks to Lorna Berndsen at Design by Lorna for bringing her client Angena by our showroom. You can find Lorna on Instagram here: @designbylornaofficial
Click HERE and HERE to see more examples of area rugs that were inspired by specific and personal things.
Please contact us if you are thinking of having a rug made-to-order using something near and dear to you: info@burrittfloors.com